


"I'm glad I'm here": Exclusive Rolling Stone Interview with Steve Rogers

by ofermod



Series: Every Picture Tells A Story: The Rolling Stone Interviews [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), DCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Bisexual Steve Rogers, Gen, Interviews, News Media, Newspapers, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Steve Feels, Steve is righteously angry, The Rolling Stone, as usual, media fic, the Marvel/DC crossover you didn't know you wanted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 06:45:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7256668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofermod/pseuds/ofermod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I never had much of an opportunity to speak up about injustice in ways that actually mattered. Not that it stopped me."<br/>The first in-depth 'Rolling Stone' interview with the First Avenger.<br/>By Cat Grant, June 17, 2012<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	"I'm glad I'm here": Exclusive Rolling Stone Interview with Steve Rogers

**Author's Note:**

> A giant thanks to [missMHO](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmho) for the beta and very insightful comments. Shoutout to Kasssumi for awesome advice!
> 
> So the other day I read this 1983 Rolling Stone interview with Joan Baez referencing [the one from 10 years prior](http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1973/03/09/page/21/article/joan-baez-im-a-bisexual), in which she essentially came out as bisexual. And then I was sitting in the library, trying to study for an exam, and instead of doing just that I wrote most of this fic right then and there. I have a lot of feelings about Steve. A LOT. And please bear in mind that I took a lot of liberties with the form - I wasn't aiming at reproducing the exact same question and answer formula, it's interviewer POV.
> 
> All footnotes can be found in the End Notes.

#  **Steve Rogers: The Rolling Stone Interview**

**The first in-depth 'Rolling Stone' interview with the First Avenger.**

_I never had much of an opportunity to speak up about injustice in ways that actually mattered. Not that it stopped me._

◼ **BY CAT GRANT**  | June 17, 2012

He's tall, broad in the shoulders but holds himself as though he was half the size, as though he wants to shrink himself. (Or maybe it’s just me projecting the history textbook photograph of Captain America before the serum, the skinny guy, onto this iconic hero). The plain baseball cap and tinted aviators, surprisingly enough, do their job, he’s hiding in plain sight. You wouldn't think Captain America goes to Starbucks and orders anything other than a plain black espresso? Well, he’s happily sipping a double caramel macchiato with soy milk. Also, it says "Grant" on the cup.

"Why Grant?" I ask (history textbook again, but shhh).

"Oh, yeah. It's my middle name, I try to avoid the fuss, I get recognized a lot, you know."

You wouldn't think Captain America goes to Starbucks and drink an abhorrently sweet macchiato because he doesn't. It's just Steve Rogers who does that.

This is a perfect way to break the ice. Oh no, I hope I didn't say that out loud (I didn’t). Not the best choice of words, considering.

"So, Steve Rogers and soy milk?"

"Are you kidding? Of course. I've had enough of the pitiful coffee-flavored liquid asphalt we drank in the trenches and earlier in the 30s and even 40s, soy milk is amazing. Plus, I love caramel and all the fancy things you can get in coffee these days. It's great, I usually come here after my morning runs."

"Ok, then. Things Steve Rogers loves about the 21st century: Starbucks coffee"

"Definitely in my top 5."

"Do tell the other 4, then, please," I inquire.

"With pleasure! You know, people usually ask me if I miss the 'good ol' days' and try to insinuate that the Great Depression was some sort of a golden age and everything was in Technicolor back then, so this is very refreshing. I'm gonna have to start with food then, that's my number one."

"Wait, you're not supposed to start from the top! You ruined the anticipation."

"Oh, geez. Sorry, it's done now," he chuckles and smirks. Who knew Captain America was sarcastic?! Scratch that: who knew Steve Rogers was sarcastic? "Food, yeah. I first walked into a grocery store and thought I wandered into a warehouse or something. There was just, you know, so much of everything. I had problems just deciding what I wanted – there were at least 10 different brands of peanut butter. Well, except one – Skippy was there in the 30s too, so I bought that to check if it tasted the same."

"And what was the verdict?"

"Still palatable. But then again, I never particularly liked peanut butter. But you know, as I stood there in the store just taking in all those brands I saw the one with jelly already in the jar. You know why we added jelly onto peanut butter during the war?” I know but I still shake my head. I want the full story. “It sweetened the flavor.1 It was that or spam, you know, we needed the protein fix to keep us going and the rations weren’t as generous as we’d have liked. Peanut butter and jelly. In one jar. I bought that one just out of curiosity but never got around actually trying it yet. But it's not just the stuff in the shops, it's when you go out and eat in restaurants, it's really amazing. We used to do awful things to food back then, we boiled everything to hell and it tasted all the same and got all mushy. So I like the taste of everything now, you know. I love how I can get a blue or green soda, that... what's it's name... Gator?"

"Gatorade, yeah."

"That's the one, I like that after a run, you know. And it's blue. (laughs). I got used to it all now but at first all colors of the rainbow in the beverage alley kinda made me uneasy."

"I can imagine. Oh no, I really, really can't," I admit and chuckle (Cap chuckles as well). "What's next on the list?"

"I'd say technology. You know, we used to, Bucky and I, we used to go to those science fairs that Howard, Tony Stark's father, used to organize. Before Bucky got deployed we went to see the Stark Expo in 1943 and you know what he showed off with then? A flying car. Which exploded and fell flat after a couple of seconds of floating above ground but still. I’ve never been much of a science fiction enthusiast, it was mostly Buck but it still... I was excited about that, even then. Anyway, I'm very glad Tony figured out how to make his suit fly and actually stay in the air, so that's gotta be something good about the future (chuckles). No, but in all seriousness, I would be pretty lost without the Internet, it's so helpful."

"Wouldn't we all," I sigh (a tiny bit overdramatically).

"Oh, yeah that's another thing. I'm still getting used to how much everyone seems to like technology these days. Soon after I got defrosted I went to make a call on a payphone because that seemed to me like the obvious choice at the time. So I stand there, insert my coins into the machine, and put the phone to my ear and it's silent. Turned out they had been out of commission for some time. Now that I think of it, I never got those coins back, the dead machine ate them. I think I was too surprised to remember about the money. Then I got a cell and let me tell you, it was like an epiphany. Wasn’t that strange of a thing to me, a wireless phone. We used to have wireless comms in the military during the war, but nothing like it – with music and calendar and calculator and the Internet. I’m still kind of amazed at how people seem to be in symbiosis with their phones or whatever piece of tech it is that they’re constantly looking at, even while walking. I’m pretty amazed that they manage to actually get from point A to B without either getting lost or bumping into lamp posts or something.2 But I gotta admit my first two Starkphones got shattered to pieces (occupational hazard, you know) and it was only after I told Tony he makes shitty, um I mean, low quality tech that he told me he got special reinforced models for me, you know.”

“Supersoldiers need superphones, I guess?”

“Apparently, yeah!”

“Food, technology. What’s number three?”

“Disney.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, animated movies, I was thrilled when I found out how many more were made in the last seven decades. I saw _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_ with Bucky when it first came out in ’37 and that was already a swell movie. You know my teammates got me a Netflix so I could catch up with all the classics they kept telling me to watch but what I ended up actually watching, almost glued to the screen, was all the Disney movies. I went through the Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh… You know, I can appreciate good artwork when I see it, I myself used to draw before the whole Captain America shindig, so… So, I was thrilled, so thrilled to see the artistry in those movies.”

“I would have pegged you for an action or science fiction movie person, but this is great, yet another proof that animated movies are not just for kids.”

“Why would they be? They’re so layered, like every good story and that’s what they are – good stories. Plus the art, which I love. Not that I don’t like action, special effects are so amazing these days.”

“So what’s the last thing on the list?”

“I guess… Oh, man… I think clothes. Yeah. I like how comfortable everything is, even formal wear. That’s maybe because we used to be so poor back then that I had to darn my (and Bucky’s too) socks until they completely fell apart. And now I can buy six pairs in the nearby store. I don’t know if I like this… this readiness to replace things so quickly but hey, I appreciate that my shirts and slacks, or jeans, are not itchy and stiff anymore. It’s probably because I can afford everything I need that makes me say so. I used to put newspapers in my shoes, you know, when it got cold, to better insulate the only pair I had. Good ol’ days, my ass.”

He seems to be forgetting that he’s swearing. Good sign.

“You don’t miss the tailors and shoe makers? Oh, maybe you still do buy your clothes from tailors!”

“Nah, only when formal occasions require me to squeeze into a tux, Tony’s very helpful then, you know. I kind of enjoy buying from the rack, although I was a bit intimidated at first – it was so difficult to choose anything! Bless the shopkeepers, though, they always know what looks good on you.”

“But it’s something you get used to,” I supply.

“Yeah,” he admits.

“All five of your favorite things about the future are mostly material, what about non-material stuff? To be frank, I’m itching to know what you think about social changes since the 40s.”

“Oh, right… Well, it wasn’t as though I ended up in a different country or culture, it’s still America so everything was familiar and yet noticeably different. There were things that I noticed immediately, like equal rights for women (although there’s still plenty to be done) and people of color being more visible and empowered in society. That’s amazing, it made me feel good that the world went forward instead of backwards. Made me feel that we actually won the war, you know, in the sense that the better future we hoped for back then really happened. But then there’s stuff that I didn’t notice right away, like… you know the other day I was running around DC and it was a Sunday, so I went for a coffee afterwards…”

“Starbucks?”

“You betcha. And I sat on a bench to do some people-watching, you know, it’s always fascinating to me. Sometimes I have my sketchbook with me and try to capture all the little moments. The people that day were mostly families with kids chasing each other and people walking their dogs and so on. Then I noticed two men sprawled on a blanket in the middle of it all and getting all fresh with each other…”

I hold my breath. That’s it, that’s the moment. My idol says something nasty. Never meet your heroes, they say.

“…and I started looking around for people getting ready for a fight or something, but it was as though no one noticed, as though no one cared, you know? As though this was a normal, everyday occurrence? Then it clicked. I got home, I googled things. SHIELD did give me a crash course on a lot of things but I guess they assumed some wouldn’t interest me? Or affect me? I caught up with queer history, mostly. It’s not exactly the top priority topic that you’re briefed on when you’re defrosted and start to be reintegrated into society. I was so relieved. Relieved that this was the future I woke up in. That things got better. Not ideal, but so much better. You see, I grew up in a queer neighborhood, I was used to… all sorts of ‘otherness’ but it was all always tinged with secrecy, shame, and guilt, in some way or another. So yeah, I caught up with all the gay liberation movement events from the past, the Stonewall Inn, the president recently openly supporting the same sex marriage…3 I thought to myself then: I’m so grateful that there were people brave enough to stand up and fight, to refuse to be silenced. All that said, I gotta tell you what I hate about the future, though.”

“Do tell!” Today’s world is pretty messed up, after all.

“You know it’s because of the time that passed, it’s been almost decades since I fell into the ice and was declared dead so I thought, when I woke up, that people must have been adding their own polished layers to the history books during all that time. Not that I deem myself worthy of being in history books, but you know, the cause that made me and kept me going was much, much bigger than this sorry son of a gun, Steve Rogers. So, you know those guys, Fox News, right?”

“Sure, sure.”

“Yeah. I have a problem with them and all those who keep doing the same thing. What I’m trying to say is that I never thought I’d be made into a symbol of bigotry and jingoistic propaganda.”

“I’m trying not to imagine you sitting in front of your TV, munching on a snack, and hearing all this from Fox News. I’m failing, though. Did you shout at the TV?” If he really was the stern-looking Captain from the textbooks and documentaries, I would have stopped myself but come on, this Steve Rogers has a glint of mischief in his eyes all the time.

“Oh yeah and it kind of spiraled from there. I usually get angry and hot-headed because of things that I don’t agree with. That was a month ago. I had some time to think all of this through. No one ever anticipates becoming a symbol, but you know. Not in my darkest nightmares did I see this. I know that the shield and the uniform are a symbol, that they stand for… the truth, justice, and the American way, as Superman would say… but not for racism, homophobia, and misogyny. When I was a kid, my mum used to take me to Communist Cell meetings… Yeah,” he pauses. I must have opened my mouth at that. “It was great and people cared about each other, valued the workers and all that…4 You won’t find it in any history book that Captain America was a socialist. Still is, in fact, not much has changed except that I see how much the idea went wrong in the communist countries. So, one of the reasons why I’m glad to be here and now is that I can finally speak for myself and tell everyone and their grandmother that what the SSR’s legacy, and mine by extension, stands for cannot be reduced to what some of those ultra-conservative pricks seem to be sticking onto me. I’m glad to be here, especially here, talking to you because growing up a poor immigrant kid, raised by a single mother, and severely disabled for most of my life, I never had much of an opportunity to speak up about injustice in ways that actually mattered. Not that it stopped me. God knows how many times Bucky dragged my sorry ass from an alley fight because this fella kept harassing that girl in the shop and I couldn’t just watch and let it slide. I can finally use the privilege I have been given to speak up and I will. I, Steve Rogers, a World War II veteran and an Avenger, too, do not agree with any of the bigotry anyone tries to paint me with. I am, in fact, a feminist, a socialist, and queer. Oh, no, wait, the term would actually be bisexual, I googled that too. So yeah, there you go.”

Oh, boy.

“Captain Rogers, that’s quite a bomb you just unloaded on us.”

“I know. But you have no idea how relieved and happy I am. I could do this all day, you know, talk about things that matter, now that I can. By the way, I’m looking forward to joining the pride parade in New York this year!5”

“Which is in just a week’s time! New York, you’d better be prepared for Captain Rogers.”

“Yeah, you’d better!”

As I type these last words, I can almost hear quite a few queer historians punching air as soon as this sees the light of day. Dear readers, when I asked Captain Rogers to answer a couple of my questions a few days ago, I thought I’d see the man behind the shield. I thought I’d see an actual living and breathing person behind all the dust that’s settled over the Captain America persona. I did see that and so, so much more. And yet, I am left with one huge doubt.

America, are you worthy of your hero?

As Allen Ginsberg once said: “America this is quite serious.”

**Author's Note:**

> [1] [Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich origins](http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/PeanutButterJellySandwich.htm%20).  
> [2] Inspired by this video clip, a story of a guy who tries to live his life after 44 years in prison.  
> [3] [May 9, 2012](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2012/05/09/gIQAivsWDU_story.html).  
> [4] Allen Ginsberg: _America_.  
>  [5] June 24, 2012.


End file.
